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Busy Philipps Says James Franco Assaulted Her While Filming 'Freaks and Geeks'

In her forthcoming memoir, "This Will Only Hurt a Little," Busy Philipps says James Franco violently pushed her to the ground on the set of "Freaks and Geeks."
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In a leaked excerpt from her memoir, This Will Only Hurt a Little, which was verified as a part of the book by Yahoo Entertainment on Monday, Busy Philipps claims James Franco assaulted her while filming Freaks and Geeks.

Philipps says that, when the two were filming a scene where she was directed to softly hit Franco on the chest while she delivered a line of dialogue, Franco broke character and assaulted her. "He grabbed both my arms and screamed in my face, ‘DON’T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!’" she writes, according to Yahoo. "And he threw me to the ground. Flat on my back. Wind knocked out of me."

Philipps remembers that everyone on the set was horrified, and says that after the alleged assault, she cried in front of co-star Linda Cardellini, who suggested Philipps call her manager. Philipps says that Franco was generally a "fucking bully" during the filming of the 1999 cult TV show, and that although he apologized for the assault the following day, he was forced to do so by the show's producers and director and faced no other consequences for the alleged assault.

This isn't the first time Franco's character has been called into question: In the past year, he's been accused by at least five women of "inappropriate or sexually exploitative behavior," including allegedly pressuring a young woman to perform oral sex on him in a car and inviting a 17-year-old girl to his hotel room. Franco has maintained that he has his "own side of this story," but that he won't "actively refute" his accusers.

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Correction: This story originally stated that Franco allegedly pressured a 17-year-old to perform oral sex on him in the car. In fact, Franco propositioned a 17-year-old to join him at a hotel, and allegedly pressured a different young woman to perform oral sex on him. We regret the error.